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Kids are disgustingly honest. They don't understand the concept of the 'little white lie'.
And my kidlet (9) is no exception to the rule.
The other day she brought home a book and said, "Mom, you've got to read this book. It is sooo funny!" The book was called FALLING IN by Francis O'Roark Dowell. I glanced inside it, but didn't really get much further than that. It was a school library book and she turned it in the next day.
Anyhoo, I had to ask, "So was it as funny as my stories?" She'd read LOST LEPRECHAUN LOOT the serial blog story I had written for St. Paddy's day.
"Mom, your stories aren't funny."
Ouch. That hurt. After I yanked the knife from my heart. Blood gushed all over the place because the worst thing you can do with a penetrating object is to remove it. :-) But not only that, I realized that I had just failed with my targeted audience. Even at this age, their opinion of writing is subjective. Some will like certain styles, some will not.
Lesson learned. Never ask your kid whether your stuff is funnier than a published authors. But I will always treasure her comment after she did read LLL. "Mom, I forgot that you wrote this."
As of this posting, I've written 13,622 words since May 1 on book #3 in the series. A series that I don't seem to have a hope of ever selling. *shrugs* Oh, well, I'm enjoying writing it.
Write on!
LOL on kidlet comment. My adult kids won't read my stuff. My son said I scarred him when the first thing he turned to was the love scene. {Note to son: how do you think you got here?}
ReplyDeleteK's praise is a heart melter.
Way to go, Margaret! Keep on!
The reason she thinks it's not funny has nothing to do with your writing. It's biology. You're her mom! I hear singers say that their kids won't listen to their songs on the radio. I'm sure it's the same with writers.
ReplyDeleteAh, the brutal honesty of children. I don't think you scarred your son for life, Meg. It sounds like he turned out okay. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Edie! I've gotten so conditoned about rejection that her comments were like water off a duck's back. :-)
ReplyDeleteWell guess you'd never better ask her if your pants make your butt look big......husbands are smart enough to know there is only ONE safe answer to that question, but children have no such filters.
ReplyDeleteHA! I've never made THAT mistake, Jody. I'm overdue to get my hair color . . . uh, tweaked, and she was showing my gray to her little buddy. Yeah. . . fun stuff. :-P
ReplyDeleteYou will have the chance to get even. Take some photos of her doing dorky stuff to pull out when she starts bringing boys home to meet you.
ReplyDeleteI like the way you think, Jody! Bwahahaha!
ReplyDelete